New UK pension investments up by over a third in first quarter says Equifax Touchstone

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Analysis from Equifax Touchstone shows that new UK pension investments(excluding transfers) jumped by over a third (36.8%) during Q1 2017, rising to £6.8bn from £5bn in Q4 2016. New inflows for the quarter were more than twice as high year on year, increasing by 55.4% on Q1 2016.
According to the data, which covers more than 90% of the UK’s leading life and pensions companies, total pension investments including transfers for Q1 2017 reached £12.4bn, up by 30.3% on the previous quarter.
The quarterly figures highlighted ongoing investor desire to switch to products that better suit their retirement needs, as transfers across all products rose by 23.3% to £5.6bn.
Q1 2017 SIPP inflows stood at £3bn, an increase of 16.6% on Q4 2016. Total SIPP sales for the quarter were up 25%.
John Driscoll, director at Equifax Touchstone, comments “It’s encouraging to see such a positive start to 2017, well up on levels seen in 2016. Growth in pension inflows has proved resilient to political uncertainty and it will be interesting to see if concerns about whether stock markets are due a correction will start to impact inflows for the rest of the year.
“Advisers are receiving increasing requests from clients to opt out of their final salary scheme. As investors continue to weigh up the benefits of a guaranteed final salary pension, versus flexible access to their retirement savings, it’s likely this behaviour will follow through into the next quarter. Pension transfer volumes will continue the upward trend as ‘insistent clients’ give greater weight to flexibility in their financial planning.”
Equifax Touchstone utilises intermediary and customer profiling tools to enable financial services providers obtain a detailed understanding of their marketplace and client base.